A StarNewsOnline Blog

The emporium for all things literary

The Young Adult Library Association (YALSA), a branch of the American Library Association, recently polled young readers on their favorite book. Well, maybe not their all-time favorite, since the entries were limited to young adult titles released between January 2010 and April 2010. A team of grad students from Simmons College created a ballot with 26 nominees. Some 10,000 ballots were cast online between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15 in the Teens’ Top Ten Project, and the results were released… Read More »

About This Blog

This is an emporium for all things literary: occasional book reviews, local book news, items about authors (mostly from the Cape Fear area but occasional visitors) and miscellaneous rants.

The usual author is Ben Steelman, feature writer and book columnist for the Star-News. He’s that shaggy, slightly smelly character you spot lurking in the back aisles of your local bookstore. Physically, he has more than a passing resemblance to Ignatius J. Reilly, hero of John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces” — some observers have noted other parallels as well.